We just had Christmas in July at the studio! Two huge boxes arrived from our favorite fabric partner, Quilting Treasures. I was so excited to see over a dozen bolts of sassy western fabric, I almost did a line dance for the UPS guy. When I was kid my nickname was...
In honor of the impending birth of the Royal Baby, I thought I would highlight a collection we designed when Kate and William got married. I love the Liberty floral prints and it was fun that they teamed up with Target. That was a great influence on this collection...
My son is off to college this summer and that leaves me with just two left in “the nest”. My daughters still have quite a while before flying away – about 6 years, but I’ve often thought of what car I would drive and what kind of house I would...
It’s that time of year, when school is winding down, senior ball is over and kids are finishing their finals. Some are moving to the next grade but some like my son are graduating high school. It seems like it was only yesterday that he started kindergarten. I...
I’m on an 18 day dream trip with my daughter who just graduated from college. We’ve seen more amazing things in the last couple of days than I’ve seen in California in years. California is a beautiful but young (like me) state compared to the rest of...
I know all of you creative types know about Etsy, but if you consider yourself “creatively challenged” you may not be aware of the best place to shop in the entire internet Universe. (It might be tied with Zappos, which has more hot shoes than even I can...
e·qual·i·ty 1. the state or quality of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability. Isn’t it time we stopped arguing and do the right thing? We have a history of denying rights to citizens, let’s take a step in the right...
I was doing some research last week, I can’t even remember what it was for but I stumbled across the most amazing artists. They are called Pip & Pop. The Australian artist duo Nicole Andrijevic and Tanya Schultz, create the most magical art installations....
This year my Christmas decor is all about glittery, vintage-y, sparkly stuff. It started in October when I saw this sparkly silver reindeer that’s the size of my dog on display at Z Gallerie. While my judgmental self was thinking it’s way too early for...
We are always busy with new product designs at Simon+Kabuki. We get asked to design a lot of partyware, and since we always love to throw a good bash, designing the paper plates and cups is a lot of fun. Whenever we throw our own parties we start with designing the...
Did you Rock the Vote yesterday? Whether you are a democrat or a republican I hope you got out there and voted. It’s the only way to make our voices heard. I loved this portion of Obama’s speech, “America, I believe we can build on the progress...
Last week my kids had the week off. My son did several college tours and I took Friday off for some fun family time. Most of our weekends are taken up driving to soccer games all over town so it was nice to have a free Friday to explore our nearby parks and...
I love the idea of an Elegant Black and White Wedding. Or black and white with a subtle accent color thrown in. You could wear some sparkly shoes under your wedding dress for a great little surprise. Black and white is perfect for anytime of the year but feels...
As you can probably tell from our lack of blog posts we’ve either been really busy or really lazy. I’m going with busy. Oddly we spend our time from May-July designing for Christmas. We’ve recently completed about 100 new Christmas cards for various...
It’s been a while since I posted. My computer has had some serious problems and has been in the shop at Apple all week. I get to pick it up today from the Apple store lets hope it works! Its been very hard bouncing to other computers. Luckily everything was...
Many years ago, I sat next to a cool grandma on a plane trip. She told me she was going to pick up her grandson and take him on his 13th birthday trip… to Africa for a safari. Grandma and Grandpa take each of their grandchildren for an adventure anywhere in the...
While in NYC for the Stationery Show/Surtex, I lucked out and found myself outside of ABC Carpet and Home store. The storefront was vintagey-cool and the window displays were works of art. I spent a couple of hours soaking in the one-of-a-kind home decor collections...
Yesterday after my two daughter’s soccer games, we headed to the Goat Hill Farm Fair. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day and the drive on Highway 17 was gorgeous! My daughter’s complained the whole time about wanting to go home but once they got there...
Maurice Bernard Sendak – June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012 Growing up my favorite book was Where the Wild Things Are. I still have my original copy, slightly beaten, read many times and loved tremendously. I felt like I was Max or at least his tag-along friend on a...
I love eating fresh fruits and veggies especially in the summer. Last year we decided to build our own vegetable garden. We built two 4′ x 8′ boxes. Each season we switch out what we grow and try new things. Not everything is a success and it is definitely...
My little “work room” had become a place to put crap so I decided to reorganize. I took all of the furniture out so I could get a fresh perspective on the space. Then I noticed that I hate the carpet that’s been in there for 10 years. So I tore it...
I know it is winter and in some places there is snow on the ground but here in Northern California old man winter has taken a break. I am totally okay with having 75 degree winter days, no complaints here. It’s fun to hit the parks and beaches and not worry...
In honor of our new color of the year, Tangerine Tango, I decided to take one of our popular patterns and adapt it using Tangerine Tango. I started with Mediterranean Dreams (click to see the original blue and green pattern) and adjusted the colors. It is amazing what...
The Pantone Color Institute just announced their color of the year and it is Tangerine Tango. Pantone is the global authority on color and the originator of the color matching system that established standards for the use of color in manufacturing and print. That...
Since it is political debate season, year, month, whatever, I thought I would try to focus on something positive (stop laughing) about politics. No not the lies that are coming out of their mouths nor the attacks on each other, you would think they are all in middle...
